Taylor Swift Calls a 12-Year-Old Fan Who Has Cancer

For 12-year-old Emily Beazley in particular, hearing from the pop star would be a dream come true—and as luck would have it, her dream did come true! "We would be here all day if I told you why I liked her," Emily told NBC Chicago last week. She has been battling stage III T-cell lymphoblastic non-Hodgkins lymphoma since 2011. Sadly, after years of chemotherapy, Emily's cancer remains so aggressive that doctors recently told her family that there is nothing more they can do for her.

That's where Taylor came in.

After countless attempts to get the singer's attention via social media, Emily received a surprise call from her idol Tuesday. Taylor's manager first called around 4:30, while Emily was in radiation treatments, so the singer called back when the family was in the car at 5:00. "The smile on my daughter [is one] I have not seen in a very, very long time," Emily's mother, Nadia Beazley, recalled. "I could cry."

Nadia said Taylor did most of the talking during the 10-minute conversation. Emily explained how much she loves Taylor's music, and Taylor told her that she knew about her story: the cancer, the purple and green colors that adorn the family's neighborhood, and the Chicago block recently named in her honor.